1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a specimen holding device. In particular, this invention relates to a device for holding specimen stubs for coating in an ion beam sputter coating machine to be used in a scanning electron microscope.
2. Prior Art
Specimen samples to be analyzed by a scanning electron microscope are first deposited on flat metal disks, called "specimen stubs." After the sample is deposited on the stub, the stub is coated in an ion beam sputter coating machine with a thin film of an ionized metal, such as gold or palladium, and then placed in the scanning electron microscope for analysis. Once the stub has been coated with the sample, it is crucial that it not come in contact with any foreign material, as could be present on a technician's fingers or gloves. Fingerprints or other contact by technicians may result in the sample not being accurately viewed by the scanning electron microscope.
In older model scanning electron microscopes, the flat metal specimen stubs had an attached stem, which could be touched by the technician without harm to the sample. However, in modern scanning electron microscopes, such as a model JEOL JXA-840 scanning micro analyzer manufactured by JEOL LTD. of Tokyo, Japan, the stubs used for holding the sample are in the form of a disk that does not have a stem.
Before the stub can be coated in an ion beam sputter coating machine, it is secured in a sample holder. The holder prevents any undesired movement of the stub in the coating machine and secures it in a correct position for coating by the gaseous metal cloud generated by the ion beam sputter coating machine.
An additional problem with prior art specimen holders is that they would only hold a limited number of samples, i.e., less than four at a time.
It is therefore an object of this invention to produce a specimen holding device to hold a specimen stub in an ion beam sputter coating machine prior to analysis under a scanning electron microscope.
It is a further object of this invention that the specimen holding device securely holds the specimen stubs during the coating process within the ion beam sputter coating machine.
It is another object of this invention that the specimen holder allows the specimen stubs to be removed from the specimen holder without being touched by a technician.
It is still a further object of this invention to produce a specimen holder which can hold more than three specimen stubs at the same time for coating with an ion beam sputter coating machine.
These and other objects, as well as the scope, nature, and utilization of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, drawings and appended claims.